Electrolysis has long been used for removing hair from the face and other areas of the body. In typical electrolysis processes, subjects of the treatment have been able to selectively target hairs and remove them.
To understand electrolysis, it is beneficial to appreciate that at the base of each hair follicle there is a solution of salt water that is capable of conducing electricity. In particular, subjecting the salt water solution to an electric current causes the salt (NaCl) and the water (H.sub.2 O) to break down into their constituent chemical parts. The breakdown of the salt and water is referred to as electrolysis, and the subsequent rearrangement of the salt and water is referred to as ionization. Effectively the electrolysis, through ionization, forms sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The sodium hydroxide produced is highly caustic to the hair follicle and causes the follicle to die through a decomposition process. The general epithelium of the follicle is killed, rendering the follicle unable to ever produce more hair. Once the hair follicle passes through the decomposition process, the hair associated with the hair follicle can be extracted or in some cases the hair may even simply fall out.
As pointed out above, the electrolysis process is not new and there have been a number of basic approaches to removing hair from the facial areas and other body areas of a person. For many years the primary approach to electrolysis entailed an electrified needle that was injected into a particular hair follicle. While this electrolysis process was once widely used, it nevertheless has many drawbacks and shortcomings. First of all, it was an invasive process and with that comes pain, apprehension and anxiety by those people being treated. Further it entails a process that requires treating one hair at a time and as such it is a tedious, time consuming process.
In the patent to Cole, U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,369, a tweezer type electrolysis process was disclosed. Here a tweezer is connected or otherwise engaged with one or more hairs at a time. Current is conducted through the tweezer and by conducting current along the hair the salt and water surrounding the hair follicle is transformed to sodium hydroxide and consequently decomposition of the hair follicle occurs. Again, this process has been used substantially and has met with success. But again, this process still deals with treating one or a few hairs at a time and because of that it is a time consuming and tedious process.
Next, Cole in U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,003 introduced another procedure for performing electrolysis on hairs within a generally localized area. This patent teaches the use of an electrified probe that engages a very small area of the subject's skin and electric current is directed to the hairs occupying the very small localized area being treated. Like the prior discussed electrolysis process, current is directed down to the hair follicles and reaches the base where it transforms the salt and water to sodium chloride, giving rise to decomposition. This process and approach to electrolysis has met with substantial success because it is non-invasive and more efficient than the tweezer process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,369. However, the electrified probe process still requires the full attention of the electrolysis practitioner during the entire process. That is, it requires the constant attention and work of the electrolysis professional because the probe itself must be handled and moved across the localized area during the course of the process.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for an electrolysis system and process that is relatively easy to administer and which preferably can be achieved without a practitioner having to constantly maintain a tweezer or an electrified probe in contact the selected hairs to be removed.